here in your arms
by champion lyra
Summary: On a late night working on a project, Yusaku takes an accidental nap. —MoonlightShipping, YusakuMiyu. For HugSaku Week!


**Notes**

Hello again! Here's my story for day 2 of HugSaku week over on tumblr - for the prompt **Touch**. I went with MoonlightShipping, since I'm mourning the loss of ever getting to see Miyu for more than two seconds in a hospital LMAO. I'll always have fic, at least, but really, I would've loved to see her and Yusaku become friends... Oh well! That's what this is for. You can read this as either platonic or the beginnings of something romantic :)

Even if this is for HugSaku this is less hugging and more just... cuddles, but I hope it still counts lmao. Hope y'all enjoy and see you tomorrow!

* * *

"Thanks for agreeing to be my partner for the project," Miyu said, smiling a bit as she stepped into his dingy apartment.

In all honesty, Yusaku was glad. He had never cared for group projects in school, generally doing his absolute best to fail them or not interact as much as possible with the other students. In a stroke of luck he wasn't used to, however, Miyu ended up in his class for their final year at Den City High School. He wouldn't really call the two of them friends - he still had trouble calling _anyone_ a friend, even now - but at least Miyu was someone he knew. Could be comfortable with.

Shrugging, he led her down the stairs into his room, already grabbing the assignment out of his bag. "It's convenient," he told her, not really sure what else to tell the girl.

Their relationship was… odd. That was true for most people he interacted with, yes, but especially with Miyu, Yusaku felt. She was Aoi's friend, so he knew her by proxy, but she was also one of the victims of the Lost Incident. She was Aqua's origin, who had never got to truly meet her Ignis. Despite being a victim of that incident, she had never really set foot into Link VRAINS while everything was going on, mostly because Lightning had put her into a coma. It left Yusaku in an odd place when it came to her.

On the surface, like Takeru, she was bubbly and excitable, but he was well aware of the possibilities lurking underneath. Her status as another victim instantly made him more comfortable in her presence, but really, they didn't know each other yet. Takeru and Aoi both had the added bonus of having fought alongside him in Link VRAINS so many times, something Miyu just simply didn't have. Their first meeting was at Cafe Nagi months ago, and they'd seemingly hadn't even formed a friendship.

Well, Yusaku amended, he couldn't say what she thought about him for certain. On top of seeking him out for this project, she had sat next to him on the first day of classes and every single day after. She joined him and Aoi for lunch on the roof nearly every day, and stopped by Cafe Nagi on the days where he helped Kusanagi out. Maybe she felt differently then he did.

He didn't have much in the ways of accommodating other people in his small apartment, so he settled in on the floor, feeling a bit self conscious. The only reason they were there was because she had asked if that was alright, but Yusaku was slightly regretting agreeing to it now. Anywhere would probably have been better - the school library, Cafe Nagi, anywhere with actual tables and chairs.

However, Miyu didn't seem to mind, plopping herself down across from him with ease. "Do you care what we choose as our topic?" The project was completely inconsequential to him; his grades were of no concern. He wouldn't leave Miyu stranded, however, so he shook his head. "I'll take a look at some options then. Do you have any snacks?"

Blinking, Yusaku thought about it. Probably not was his honest answer, but he figured he'd check anyways just to be polite. He wasn't used to entertaining guests that weren't Takeru. It put him in a bit of an awkward position.

It didn't take long for him to check his cupboards only to find what he'd already suspected - the amount of food he had would make anyone tear up. With a sigh, he made his way back into his room only to feel almost _bad _in the face of Miyu's longing gaze.

"There's nothing here," he told her, sitting himself down, feeling uncomfortable this time around. "Sorry."

For a moment, Miyu didn't say anything, making Yusaku worry a bit. He'd heard - from both Aoi _and _Takeru, somehow - that she could have a bit of a temper, and it was seemingly very abrupt. Yusaku wasn't sure how unreasonable that temper could be, seeing as not having food wasn't _supposed_ to be a big deal, but he wasn't honestly sure how this went down at other people's places.

Finally, she shook her head, standing up from the floor. Holding her hand out at Yusaku, she gave him a smile. "Well, I find it hard to stay focused without something to eat," she said, hand still out expectantly. "There's a convenience store down the street, right? Let's grab a few things and then we can work."

Yusaku didn't take her hand, instead getting up on his own and watched hers drop without a word. "Okay," he agreed, despite not really caring about having food in the house at all. Working with other people wasn't exactly his strong suit, so he figured if he agreed the process would go pretty smoothly. "Let's go, then."

* * *

And so it became a weekly habit. The project was spanning out over the next three months, and twice a week, when Yusaku didn't have work at Cafe Nagi and Miyu didn't have to practice with the swim club, the would make their way over to the convenience store near his apartment, and then settle in on the floor to work on their assignment.

Whether it was just the fact that they had to be in each other's presence every week or something else, Yusaku found the tension leave his shoulders more and more with each visit from Miyu. It was an odd sensation - it felt like his lungs were finally full the moment they left Den City High's gates together and began their trek over to his place. It felt like he could breathe again.

If Miyu noticed, however, she didn't say anything. She diligently kept her distance physically from him after the first time where he didn't take her hand, but Yusaku guessed that she was an observant enough person to notice the small changes in his behavior.

He faced her while talking to her now. In class, where they sat next to each other, he tended to angle himself in her direction as opposed to just the front of the class. On the floor, in his cramped apartment, he no longer complained when she left wrappers of whatever she felt like having that day around.

Small things, small steps, but steps all the same.

However, it was the last week before the project was due, now. For whatever reason, Yusaku almost found himself mourning the loss of her company, even though she was sitting right in front of him, typing away on her laptop.

"How many days left do we have?" Miyu asked, snapping him out of his odd reverie.

Frowning, he looked at his phone, checking the calendar. "This is our last night to work on it together," he said, his frown deepening at the thought.

Why he was so torn up over this, he wasn't sure. He didn't care about the grade at all - if they finished in time, great. If they didn't, it was no skin of his back. There was no point, he knew, in going to university. He supported himself just fine between working for Kusanagi at Cafe Nagi and taking on programming jobs on the side. There was no reason for him to change his lifestyle.

And besides all that, it wasn't like he would never see Miyu again, anyways. She sat next to him in class. They still had the rest of the school year to go before they graduated. And even then, it wasn't like they'd never see each other again. Miyu was an oddly persistent girl when it came to friendship, and she was close with Aoi and Takeru, even though he'd gone back to his hometown for the time being. They had too many connections to just up and never see each other again.

Despite all of that, despite how much he reasoned with himself, Yusaku realized he'd grown used to seeing Miyu in his apartment. Grown used to walking home from class with her, stopping in that convenience store and watching as she picked out a myriad of mismatched snacks for them. Grown used to her comforting presence.

"Well," she spoke up after a moment, "I guess we should try and finish this tonight, then! Do you mind if I stay kind of late?"

Glancing at his phone again, Yusaku saw that it was already 8 in the evening. That was about when she was normally leaving, but he realized he had no objections to that. "That's fine," he said. "Let's keep working, then."

* * *

The problem, they quickly realized, is that they had much, much more to do then they had thought.

"How are we so far behind?" Miyu whined, glaring at her tablet in frustration. "We've been working on this every week!"

Truthfully, Yusaku was starting to wonder how much work they had actually been _doing_ during these times. By the time Miyu was done with her snack run, and they actually got settled in to work on the project, and _actually _started working on the project, they were generally left with only about half an hour of time. That would've been enough if the subject they'd chosen to write their project on wasn't incredibly difficult to do research on. Ancient civilizations with little to no lasting creations weren't exactly easy to look up, they'd realized over the last few months.

Shrugging, Yusaku fought back a yawn. It was already 11 at night, and though he normally had trouble falling asleep, exhaustion was beginning to wear on him. "Do you want to work from home tomorrow? It's not due until Friday."

Quickly, Miyu shook her head. "I don't work very well by myself," she confessed, pushing her tablet away from her for the moment. "Let me grab some tea and text my mom. We'll do our best to finish tonight!"

"Okay," Yusaku said, letting himself slump down a bit more against his bed. He wasn't used to feeling so exhausted.

It would be a bit before she got-off the phone and made her tea, Yusaku figured. It wouldn't be a problem if he just… closed his eyes for a moment. Then he'd sit back up and finish this stupid assignment, even if he didn't particularly care about it all that much. Miyu did, at least to some extent, and so he might as well finish it.

* * *

Though at this point Yusaku's sleep was normally dreamless, there was something different about this sleep. He felt fully at ease; peaceful in a way he hadn't felt in a long, long time. Though his apartment wasn't terribly chilly, he usually didn't feel quite so _warm_, either. It was like sleeping on a cloud.

He really, really didn't want to wake up.

Unfortunately, an annoying clicking sound kept filling his ears - it wasn't quite like typing, it was a bit too slow for that, and the unsteady pace had him squeezing his eyes shut in an attempt to sleep for just a little longer.

Something near him chuckled, and it was only then Yusaku's eyes snapped open. _Miyu. Project. Shit._

After a few seconds, his eyes focused as he took in the situation. He had fallen asleep, and somehow or another, he had ended up on Miyu's lap, curled up on his side. On the floor, in a bit of an awkward position, she had her left hand picking at keys on her laptop, which would've been the clicking noise that had woken him up in the first place. As for why Miyu was only typing with one hand, well…

Yusaku pushed himself off of her lap as quickly as he could, an unfamiliar flush coloring his face. As he sprang up, Miyu's right hand disentangled itself from his hair, her own face a bright red.

"I'm so sorry," they both blurted out at the same time, staring at each other with wide eyes. Taking a deep breath, Yusaku tried again when it seemed like Miyu wouldn't.

"Sorry for falling asleep," he told her, putting a bit more distance in between them. He wasn't sure how he had ended up on Miyu's lap, but he was terribly embarrassed. What surprised him, however, was the reason _why _\- it wasn't so much that it happened, but how much he'd been enjoying it.

Miyu was seemingly trying her hardest to look everywhere and at everything that wasn't Yusaku as he spoke. "Don't worry about it," she said, though her tone was a bit higher than usual. "It's only 12:30. You weren't out for long."

They both fell silent again, neither really able to look the other in the eyes. If Yusaku were to be honest with himself, he hadn't slept that well in ages - despite it only being a long nap. As they sat in silence, however, the haze of sleep began to clear more thoroughly from his head, and he came to an odd conclusion. One that he couldn't help but ask his… _friend _about.

Another deep breath, and Yusaku looked over to Miyu, curiosity on his face. "Wasn't I asleep leaning on the bed?"

He didn't think it was possible, but the redness that colored her cheeks made its way all the way up to her hairline. "Well, yes, but," she trailed off, and Yusaku waited patiently for her to try again. It was unusual to see her so flustered, he thought. Miyu was usually the kind of person that was very in control of her own emotions; even if she decided to be open about them. "I'm sorry," she apologized again, "you just looked so uncomfortable. I don't know what came over me."

She was always like that, Yusaku realized. Miyu was always doting on her friends, always trying to help them. At school, with Aoi, she was always bringing her lunch since the other girl never seemed to have her own, for instance. Despite being a very touchy person, she dutifully kept away from him physically most of the time, knowing that he wasn't comfortable with that level of affection.

Dropping his gaze from her face to his feet, he shuffled himself closer once again. "It's fine," he said, feeling warm. They were almost touching now; the sleeve of his hoodie brushing against her shirt. Her fingers were so close that with just a few more inches, her hand would be enclosed in his own.

It was odd, feeling so nervous about asking something. Yusaku didn't exactly pride himself on his bluntness, but it certainly wasn't something that he was looking to change about himself. It made him feel out of sorts. He didn't like it.

Willing that feeling to go away, he turned towards Miyu again. "Can you do that again?"

It was Miyu's turn now to blink owlishly at him, looking at him as if he'd grown three heads. "Do what again?" She asked, confused.

"Whatever you were doing with my hair." Truthfully, he wasn't sure what he was really asking of her. He'd been asleep the entire time, but it was so rare for him to feel _that _relaxed. Miyu's presence had always been easy for him to let his guard down in, but that had been a different experience entirely.

A beat, and then Miyu smiled warmly at him. "Lie down again, then," she said, shifting herself from the ball she'd curled up into so he could find a place on her again.

Any other day, Yusaku might've been terribly embarrassed once again. He might've not even asked, thinking this was something he could go without. He'd gone without it for so many years, after all. In Miyu's company, though, he was beginning to learn he didn't have to. It was a thought that had been building once he realized just how much he didn't want her to stop visiting him every week; that had solidified itself tonight.

So he did. He found his way onto her again, and this time, both of her hands were brought around him - one going into his hair, the other wrapping itself around him slowly. Her touch was feathery, almost, as if not wanting to scare him. Instead of feeling caged or trapped, however, he felt safe. Comforted. It was a new feeling, but one he certainly wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Even with Takeru hanging around in Den City for as long as he did, Yusaku couldn't remember the last time he'd have someone else's hands in his hair. All Miyu was doing was gently stroking his scalp, but it felt incredible. The rest of the stress he hadn't even realized he'd been holding slowly melted away from his body.

Without realizing it, Yusaku's own arm came up to wrap around Miyu. It wasn't the best position, and it was a little uncomfortable once he realized what he was doing, but he felt no desire to pull it away.

"Thank you," he told her, closing his eyes.

He couldn't see it, but he knew Miyu was smiling wide. "You're welcome," she replied, scratching his scalp a little as she squeezed him with her other arm. "Now go to sleep. I'll put the finishing touches on in the morning."

Yusaku couldn't find it in him to object.


End file.
